Gallery Oldham is celebrating its new season with a series of free talks and activities this Saturday, November 15 between 12 and 4pm.

Visitors of all ages are invited to come along and explore the exhibitions and meet a range of artists and specialists.

Saturday also sees the official opening of a prestigious new craft exhibition at the Gallery. The annual Jerwood Makers Open is a major commission that encourages early career artists to develop their work and take artistic risks.

This is a fascinating and varied exhibition by five artists pushing the boundaries of their craft.

Local artist Jack Doyle will be running craft activities throughout the day based on one of the pieces in the Jerwood Makers Open. Visitors can get involved in creating a special Tower of Babel for Oldham.

Plans for a new Coliseum Theatre & Heritage Centre are also the focus of this special day. Photographer Ian Beesley and poet Ian McMillan have been exploring the original Oldham Library & Art Gallery building and have produced a special book recording their images and poems.

A limited number of these books (131 – one for every year of the building’s history) will be given away to visitors by Ian who will be revealing a new selection of his photographs in the Designs on our Future exhibition.

The work to prepare collections for the proposed new Heritage Centre is in full swing and two specialists will be on hand in the gallery to talk to visitors about their work. Archivist Hannah Dale and Conservator Lucie Graham will be showing some of the work they have been doing on the gallery’s natural history collections.

This November Gallery Oldham has come together with Oldham Local Studies & Archives and Oldham Theatre Workshop to remember the contribution of the Oldham Pals battalion in the First World War.

Special dramatised walks following in the footsteps of the Oldham Pals will take place on Saturday at 10am, 12noon and 2pm. Places are limited so booking is recommended on 0161 770 4654.

And if you don’t want to risk an outdoor trail then the popular 200 Years on Union Street is still on show. At 2.30pm there will be a special guided tour of the exhibition by our social history curator.

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